1. Field
A refrigerator and a method for controlling a refrigerator are disclosed herein.
2. Background
In general, refrigerators are home appliances that store food or other items at a low temperature in an internal storage space shielded by a door. For this, refrigerators are configured to optimally store food by cooling a storage space using cool air generated through heat exchange with refrigerant circulating in a refrigeration cycle.
In general, an inner space of a refrigerator is partitioned into a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment, which are cooled by supplying cool air generated in an evaporator of a refrigeration cycle. For this, a blower fan to blow cool air and a damper to selectively switch a flow direction of the air to the refrigerator compartment or the freezer compartment are provided.
In the refrigerator with the aforementioned structure, an internal temperature of the refrigerator may be maintained at a predetermined temperature in such a way that, when the temperature of the refrigerator compartment does not meet a desired temperature, the damper is switched to supply cool air into the refrigerator compartment, thereby cooling the refrigerator compartment. Also, when the temperature of the freezer compartment does not meet a desired temperature, a compressor is activated, and the damper switched to supply cool air to the freezer compartment, thereby cooling the freezer compartment.
However, in the refrigerator with the aforementioned structure, the compressor is activated according to the temperature of the freezer compartment, and the cool air is produced by one evaporator. Thus, when the temperature of the freezer compartment does meet the desired condition while the temperature of the refrigerator compartment does not meet the desired condition, the compressor does not operate, and thus, the refrigerator compartment is not cooled. In this state, when the temperature of the refrigerator compartment rises too high, refrigerating performance may deteriorate, and also, when the compressor operates according to the rise in temperature, it may take a longer time to lower the temperature of the refrigerator compartment to a preset or predetermined temperature, thereby deteriorating cooling efficiency.
To solve the above-mentioned limitations, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2000-0028571, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a refrigerator that includes a pair of coolers, respectively, that cool a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment, and a switching valve that switches a flow direction of a refrigerant supplied from a compressor to efficiently cool an inside of the refrigerant, so that the inside of the refrigerator is effectively cooled by allowing the switching valve to switch the flow direction of the refrigerant according to temperatures of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment. In detail, in the refrigerator described above, when an internal temperature of the refrigerator compartment or the freezer compartment during a refrigeration operation is lowered to a preset or predetermined lower limit temperature, operation of the compressor stops in a case in which the internal temperature of the refrigerator compartment or the freezer compartment which does not perform the refrigeration operation is lower than a preset or predetermined upper limit temperature. In addition, when the compressor stops, the internal temperature of the refrigerator compartment or the freezer compartment which does not perform the refrigeration operation is sufficiently lowered. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the internal temperature of the refrigerator compartment or the freezer compartment which does not perform the refrigeration operation from significantly rising too much when the compressor is restarted, thereby improving operating efficiency of the compressor.
However, in order to simultaneously cool the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment in the refrigerator described above, the refrigerator operates in a serial cycle to allow the refrigerant to flow through both of the pair of evaporators. However, when only the freezer compartment does not meet a desired temperature, the refrigerant may be bypassed to flow into the freezer compartment-side evaporator by the switching valve. While the refrigerant flows into the freezer compartment-side and refrigerator compartment-side evaporator, which are serially connected to each other, a large amount of refrigerant remains in the refrigerator compartment-side evaporator and a flow path connected to the refrigerator compartment-side evaporator at an instant that the refrigerant is bypassed to flow to the freezer compartment-side evaporator by the switching valve. If the refrigerant does not quickly return into the main cycle, an overheating phenomenon occurs due to a shortage of the refrigerant in the freezer compartment-side evaporator.